An account with fake followers will generally display a noticeably different engagement average than usual as fake followers will generally not engage in any way, bringing down the engagement rate. An account with 100,000 followers but only 100 actively engaging can raise concerns from the intended audience.
Yes, you can buy followers on Instagram from a wide range of sites at different price points. However, these followers typically aren't real, and they're either bots or inactive accounts that won't actually engage with your profile. So although your follower count may be going up, your engagement will stay the same.
If you're caught buying fake followers, you'll ruin your credibility and damage your reputation. Those negative impacts will last a lot longer than your fake followers' accounts.
Not only do these followers not interact with your posts, but they can also make it difficult for your actual, legitimate followers to engage with your content. Additionally, if the followers you have purchased are bots, they can be flagged by Instagram, resulting in a decrease in your overall reach and engagement.
Instagram makes regular purges, searching for fake accounts. They have considerable experience of finding fake accounts and know all the signs to look out for. You may not think that you have paid much for your followers, but it will still be too much if these followers disappear soon after you buy them.
No, paying for followers will not result in a ban. Millions of users buy followers every year without consequences. The only way you can get banned is by posting inappropriate content or spamming others with too many automated DM's.
You're not posting at the right times
The timing of your posts is crucial in order to reach the maximum number of people. Research when your target audience is most active on Instagram and try to post during those times.
So some celebrities have adjusted: not only are they buying followers, they're also buying likes to make sure their engagement rate looks high at first glance. A good way to see if a celebrity's engagement is legit is to compare the number of likes to comments.
The reason: Instagram's 2023 Algorithm. Thanks to the last few updates, only 10% of your followers are able to see your post. Whenever the algorithm updated and engagement tanked, my first thought would be, “Why would Instagram hurt themselves by ruining this experience for so many users?” or “This is it for Instagram.
Brands can identify fake followers by looking out for: extreme engagement rates (very high or very low), spam comments and an uneven number of follower to following ratio. They can also use free tools to analyze influencer profiles and reveal the level of audience authenticity – but more on that later.
They won't help people follow you because they aren't spreading awareness of you. In fact, fake followers can make you look worse, if people run you through a simple check to see if you have fake accounts. Seriously, it's incredibly easy to identify fake followers.
For example, spamming irrelevant hashtags or commenting on posts at random can attract fake followers. That's because bot activity often represents a snowball effect.
My Take: Remove Ghost Followers To Instagram Increase Engagement. There is a difference between a fake/bot follower and an inactive follower; fake/bot accounts have to go. They don't have thumbs and brains, so there is NO potential for them to interact, learn, or buy for you. And they'll lower your engagement rate.
Not only is it less likely to appear in your fake followers' feeds, but it's also less likely to show up in your other followers' feeds. This can create a vicious cycle: your engagement rate drops, so fewer people view your content. And the fewer users who see your posts mean your engagement rate will decrease again.
It distorts your engagement metrics
Fake likes might artificially boost your engagement rate, but they don't provide real social media engagement from the audience you're trying to reach. You might end up with a high like count but no meaningful interactions in the comments.
Influencers, in response, purchase fake followers to present themselves as highly influential. Conventional wisdom assumes that fake followers typically do not affect the influencer's account, and are therefore counterintuitive as said practice ultimately hurts influencer credibility.
When combining the top 20 most followed accounts on Instagram, the total number of fake followers equates to over one billion false accounts! Interestingly, the account with the largest percentage of fake accounts is a brand, rather than a celebrity.
If you're losing followers on Instagram, there's a very good chance that you're posting content that your ideal reader isn't interested in. If you share a random collection of posts without any direction or intention, you'll lose followers.
Reach has simply shifted to accommodate creators posting what Instagram users want to see. Remember, the 2023 Instagram algorithm wants to show people what they like! So, to increase your reach on Instagram, you have to make your content more engaging.
If your Instagram is suddenly losing followers, then it's probably because you've been hit by the infamous 'shadow ban'. This can be because you've been using unauthorised software, spamming (irrelevant) hashtags or posting controversial content.
Do you get paid for 1,000 followers on Instagram? Instagram accounts with 1,000 followers make $1,420/month on average and up to $100 per sponsored post.
Buying Instagram followers can help you build a strong presence, opening to you the potential of influencer marketing. However, once you gain this status, you need to be mindful of each post or engagement that you make, as it will all have a bearing on the chances of getting influencer endorsement.